“Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” said Earl Bernhardt three days after a fire  closed the doors of his Tropical Isle Original, the iconic Bourbon Street establishment that is  a symbol of much that is New Orleans.

Bernhardt, co-owner of the Tropical Isle Original, said he always knew that his life’s journey would lead him to the French Quarter, where he would find a way to keep the good times rolling in a city known for its spirits.

“I can remember this sixth-grade field trip we went on when I was living in Hattiesburg, Miss., that really opened my eyes to this place,” Bernhardt said. “I remember standing in Jackson Square, just looking around at everything. When I got home, the first thing I told my mom was, ‘I’m going to live down there.’”

Fast forward several decades tothe night of May 16. That figment in the sixth-grader’s imagination had not only come to fruition as a bar and club, but was thriving, known for its  Hand Grenade cocktail. That night the raucous blues music filling the building ended,  replaced by  the sound of 14 fire trucks blaring sirens into the night air.

As 70 firefighters muscled  through the Bourbon Street crowd to douse flames that had reached  the second-floor storage area, Bernhardt and co-owner Pam Fortner said it took only a moment to ponder their next move.

Without hesitation, and long before the last piece of rubble lost its glow under the French Quarter street lights, they  agreed to work to reopen the bar.

“We already knew what we wanted to do after the fire,” Fortner said. “We survived Katrina and came back strong; this fire is nothing different. We can come back from this.” She  said it would be at least several months before the bar reopened.  In the meantime, Hand Grenades are still served at a second Tropical Isle on Bourbon Street that Bernhardt and Fortner own; the original bar has a third co-owner, Brad Bohannon.
Their unified agreement to rebuild mirrored the way they met and how they decided to make Tropical Isle a reality from the very beginning, the  owners said.

“We both worked at the same concession stand at the 1984 World’s Fair,” Fortner said. “Actually, Earl was running the Tropical Island concession stand and about 30 days after that, we decided to go into business together.”

After decades of successful nights, Sunday night proved to be the worst Fortner and Bernhardt had experienced as owners. 

“The night was actually one of the busier nights in the past few weeks because it was our college graduation celebration night,” Fortner said. “Students usually bring their parents with them when they come and it’s really just a great experience. It’s sad that had to happen on a night like that.”

The band Late as Usual entertained the patrons in the Tropical Isle Original, while, in the adjoining Tropical Isle Beach Club, the sounds of Willie Lockett and the All Purpose Blues Band mixed into the Bourbon Street atmosphere.

The night’s smooth sailing ended about 11:30, before the bands could begin their second sets. Several patrons near the east  side of the building noticed fire coming from the back mixing room on the first floor.

“We haven’t had a fire in any of the buildings we’ve had until that night,” Fortner said. “The way it spread was just the strangest thing. It burned around a lot of things before it managed to make its way to the second floor.”

As the blaze reached the storage area, hundreds of boxes filled with the familiar green containers used for the bar’s  popular Hand Grenade cocktail suffered damage from the flames. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The 100 patrons in the club left unharmed along with the bands and the employees.

Despite the fire, Bernhardt said he  believes the bar needs to be rebuilt, for several reasons.

“We’re more than just a bar down here,” Bernhardt said. “We have many local customers who support us through the good and the bad times. I mean, we hear from people from every state in the U.S. and other countries too. This place just harbors a family type of atmosphere.”

Bernhardt said his primary concern is not for himself or the customers; it’s for his employees, who are suddenly out of a job and forced to look for work.

“One of my main concerns has been getting our employees who are temporarily out of work another job down here to keep them going,” Bernhardt said. “All of the local bars are pitching in. Some employees are even taking cuts in their hours to make it possible for our employees to work and make ends meet. Like I’ve said before, it’s a family atmosphere here. We’re going to get through this soon enough.”